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Monday, May 14, 2012

Since coming on board with the Nashville Predators in the 2003-2004 season, Jordin Tootoo has been one of the most recognizable athletes in Music City. His thundering hits and his fighting were a big reason for his popularity with the fans in Nashville when Tootoo started his career, and that popularity has grown ever since.

With the 2011-2012 Predators' season now in the history books, Nashville will now focus their attention on their impending free agents. Tootoo is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and many have speculated on whether or not the Predators will attempt to re-sign him.

Tootoo is coming off of the best season of his career from a statistical standpoint. He recorded a career high in points with 30, which is 12 points higher than his previous career high of 18 in a season. He also played in 77 regular season games for the Predators this past season, which is the highest amount of games that he's played in his NHL career. It wasn't all good for Tootoo, however.

Over the last 15 games that Tootoo played in the regular season, he registered just a single point and had a plus-minus rating of minus-eight during that time. His poor play over the last part of the season cost him a chance to really prove himself in the postseason. Tootoo played in just three games in Nashville's 2012 Stanley Cup Playoff run and failed to register a point.

How will Tootoo's up-and-down season affect his future status with the Predators? He has spent his entire NHL career with Nashville since being drafted by them in the fourth round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He seems to be very comfortable in Nashville and doesn't really appear to have the desire to go anywhere else. The question is do the Predators want to bring him back?

Should the Predators re-sign Tootoo? If so, how long of a deal should he be given and how much money is he worth?

3 comments:

I'm not sure whether Tootoo will ever shed his reputation of being considered a dirty player. I don't think Toots is a dirty player but his perception by others is what the officals think when he's on the ice. Perhaps a change would either change the ref's calls or his reputation will be based on the Dallas game of the past.